Switch-stand



R. T. BUTLER AND H. E. THOMPSON.

SWITCH STAND. APPLICATION FILED APR. 20. 1920.

1,348,848, Patented Aug. 10. 1920.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

INVENTOR'S.

IIIIT'TORNEY.

R. T. BUTLER AND H. E. THOMPSON I SWITCH STAND. APPLICATION FILED APR. 20. 1920.

1,348,848. Patented Aug. 10,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ZZYZBaZZe/ Y flow 03021 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I SWITCH-STAND.

Specification of Letters l atent.

Patented Aug. 10, 1920.

Application filed April 20, 1920. Serial No. 375,309.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, ROBERT T. BUTLER and HARRY E. THOMPSON, citizens of the United States, residing at Flushing, in the county of Belmont and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Switch-Stands; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same.

An object of the invention is to provide a simple and eiiicient switch stand particularly adapted for use in connection with mine car tracks and designed to be locked against accidental displacement in either of two positions, that iswith the switch open or closed and yet readily adjustable from one position to the other to vary the position of the switch tongue; and furthermore to provide a device for this purpose which by reason of its construction is such as to take up or compensate for lost motion due to wear or looseness of the parts, so that when in the switch closing position the switch tongue will be tightly held in terminal contact with the rail to' efliciently guard against the possibility of derailment due to the contact of the car wheels with the end of the tongue; and with this object in view the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a view of a stand embodying the invention, showing the hand lever in full lines in one position and in dotted lines in the reversed position,

Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same,

Fig. 3 is .a vertical sectional view on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4: is a side view of a modified form of the device, wherein the connecting links between the hand lever and the retaining lever is disposed in the opposite relation to the retaining lever from that indicated in Fig. 1, and with a correspondingly modified relation of the actuating spring.

Fig. 5 is a side view of still another modified form of the stand embodying the same principle of operation as that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4.

The switch stand consists essentially of a frame 10 of any suitable form, having for example the parallel arched bars 11 and 12 spaced apart to form a guide slot 13 in the arch, and with the uprights thereof connected near their lower ends by a cross bar 1 1 upon which is fulcrumed as at 15 a hand lever 16 adapted to be connected at its lower end in any suitable way, (not shown) with the switch tongue to be operated, and moving at its upper end in the guide 'slot 15; in connection with a retaining lever 17 also pivotally mounted upon the frame, as at 18, and connected with the hand lever by a link 19, said retaining lever being actuated by a spring 20. r

In the construction illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the links 19 extend upwardly from the retaining lever and the actuating spring for the same is mounted upon a rod 21 suspended from an ear 22 on the frame, said spring being interposed between an adjustable stop 23 formed by a nut at the lower end of the rod and the projecting extremity of the retaining lever, so that the upward impulse imparted to the free end of the retaining lever serves through the agency of the link to hold the'hand lever in contact with one end or the other of the guide slot in the frame, the movement of the hand lever from one adjusted position to the other, as in throwing the switch tongue from open to closed position or from closed to open position, to depress the retaining lever against tension of its actuating spring, In other words the action of the retaining lever in connection with the link is to produce an over-center or dead-center lock which. while permitting, the hand lever to be moved from one position to the other, serves to retain the said lever in its adjusted position against any tendency to displacement by jarring or through accident. Also the pressure of the actuating spring being continuous, the lost motion due to looseness or wear on the parts is automatically taken up, and therefore the close bearing of the terminal of the switch tongue against the track rail under all conditions, when the switch is closed, is assured.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 4c the corresponding elements are embodied with the exception that the hand lever 16 is connected by the link 19 with the retaining lever 17 under such conditions that the movement of the hand lever from one adjusted position to the other causes the raising of the retaining lever instead of the depression thereof as in the form shown in uponthe frame as at 18 nected with the other-arm an instead 21* depends'from the free end of the retain side of'the Fig. 1, due to the fact that the link 19 tends downwardly from the and extends through a guide formed by an and the spring 2O" the rod. 7 In other taining; lever is downward instead of upward-and the movement of the hand; lever from -one adjusted (position to the other causes the upward instead of the downward "movement of the retaining lever, thelocking'of' the hand lever in its adjusted position corresponding with that described in relation to'the form'shown inFig; l and c the necessity for-the over-center movement of the .leverfrom one adjusted position to theother being the sameasbeforedescrlbed,

V to the end that the hand lever is locked at the limit of its movement according to the position which it occupies with relation to the plane ofthe links and the tension of the actuating springis exerted in both adjustments of the hand lever to hold it in fixed relation to the frame, 7 e c In the modification illustrated, in Fig 5 the frame 1O may be substantially as heretobefore described and the hand lever l6 is correspondingly mounted with reference thereto, and'is connected by a link l9 with which in this instance crank form, fulcrumed and having conactuating spring, 20 secured to an adjusting bolt 21 extending through a suitable opening in the frame and engaged by a nut 26. In this form as in those heretoforedescribed the hand lever must describe the over-cena retaining lever 17 1s o f angular or hell j ter movement with relationto the link 19 in passing. from one other and through. the links must cause the movement of; the spring actuated retaining lever in opposition to the tension of its spring, so that ineach of its adjusted positionsthehand lever is yieldingly locked to hold the connected switch tongue in its adjusted position against displacement by j arring or other accidental means.

It will be obvious'thatthe small number ofoperating parts necessary in connection with the described switch stand and the relative facility'with which the hand lever may be thrown from one adjusted position to the other and will be retained in either adjustment without further manipulation or retaining lever a ofupwardly therefrom,- and the rodnot always available for the recting the movements of the cars and where extension ofthe brace bar 14? is disposed between said guide eye and a stop 25 at the lowerend of words, in the form shown injFi g. 4-,- the spring tendency of the re-v adjusted position to the attention 011 the part of the operator, adapt the device particularly for use in connection with mine car tracks where skilled labor is purpose of dithe liability of accident isincreased by reafson'of the conditions under which mining work s usually conducted.

2. switch stand having a pivotal hand i switch stand having a pivotal hand movable through a limited arcuate path, a'link pivoted atone end to the hand lever and pivotally mounted at the other end for movementin a direction radial to and between the extremities of the arcuate path of the hand lever, and yielding means for advancing the second named pivotal end of the link centrifugally with reference to the path of the lever.

to reversed position rela- #1. A switch stand having a pivotal hand i lever mounted for through an arcuate path, apivotal retaining lever mounted for swinging movement in a plane parallel with the hand lever, a link connecting'the retaining lever with-the hand lever, and a spring. for yieldingly impelling the retaining lever toward and in the direction of the-length of said link. 5. A switch stand comprising a frame, a hand lever pivoted'to the frame and adapted to bea moved into one vposition to open the switchand intoanother position to'close the switch, aretaining lever pivoted to the frame and cooperating. with the hand lever, and a spring impelling the retaining-lever in a direction'to yieldingly'hold the hand lever in the position to :which it has been moved. v

Intestimony'whereof weaflix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

Y ROBERT T. BUTLER.

- HARRY E. THOMPSON, ll' itnessesi r CLARENCE E. MERRITT, HOLLOWAY.

swinging V movement 

